Where It Began
The idea of World Cinema all started when Chester Dickson, founder of World Cinema, worked at Cameron Iron Works as a traveling salesmen in the oil fields. Based off my experience of traveling, I developed the thought that no one had entertainment when they are staying in hotels. That is when Cinema Systems of Houston-now World Cinema- was developed.
Television was just starting to get big. No satellite or cable provider existed yet, but I knew people enjoyed watching movies. Chester started conversations with the broadcast production companies to let me buy the movies from them and supply them individually to hotels. One hotel went to 10, went to 100 and as the market grew, I grew with it.
How It Grew
As television evolved, so did my company. Hotels were getting content from companies who had massive deals with multiple channels like Disney. Chester aimed the company to expand and create relationships with DISH as a supplier of their content to hotels.
In December of 1974, we were renamed as World Cinema Inc.
Building a platform is hard. Building a platform in technology is even harder. We knew that only by taking the more difficult path to be the sole provider, we would be able to seize the world of opportunity and continue to be profitable and grow with innovation.
World Cinema saw the shift in technology and took that advantage to start WorldVue®. WorldVue® is a fully customizable to meet and exceed your brand’s expectations and your guests’ desires. Create and maintain the very best experience for your guests – and keep them coming back time and time again. With features like popular streaming apps, casting, custom property menu and much more, WCI has created a software to make sure the guests keep coming back.™
The Future
To date we serve over 4,000 hotels. We build trust with our clients and we enjoy maintaining those relationships. WCI has developed a team dedicated to our customers, the Customer Success Managers. This allows every property to ensure their needs are being met.
WCI’s research and development team is all in-house and one of a kind. Continuously staying ahead of the curve in hotel technology, we are future proofing our technology to maintain the guest satisfaction.
IoT has been talked about for many years now, and some hotels are testing these devices. WCI has prepared for the launches of the hotel smart room to reinforce the brand identity at the hotel. Alexa is a big part of this phase and WCI announced HITEC 2018, their agreement with Amazon.
Guest Apps- another topic on the horizon for 2020. Smartphones have taken center stage for daily communication. Hotels and WCI are in the phases of developing their own apps so guests can enjoy a better connectivity throughout their stay.
Whatever our partner, customer and guest want, World Cinema is there to help. 45 years strong, and many more to go. We are never done innovating.
Building Innovation Now and For the Future™